Mississippi Online Betting

Mississippi is one of the more permissive of southern states with options for real-world and online betting. The state is home to a large land-based gambling industry with nearly three dozen casinos located in the Gulf and upper/lower river regions. Tunica, Mississippi is one of the largest gambling regions in the country – third only to Las Vegas and Atlantic City.

Sports betting was legalized in Mississippi in June of 2018 and casinos in Tunica and Biloxi began taking their first sports wagers in August of 2018. Currently, all sports betting may only take place at authorized land-based casinos. Online sports betting has not yet been legalized in Mississippi.

When it comes to online betting, Mississippi only permits daily fantasy sports and games of skill. Online poker, horse racing and gambling sites are all prohibited in the state today. Dozens of offshore betting sites offer their services to Mississippians, but state laws clearly state that even if a gambling site is legal in some other jurisdiction, it is not legal within the state.

Online betting is similarly restricted in Mississippi. The only forms of legal internet wagering are fantasy sports and games of skill. Online poker, horse racing and gambling sites are all illegal within the state. Dozens of offshore betting sites offer their services to Mississippians but state laws clearly state that even if a gambling site is legal in some other jurisdiction, it is not legal within the state.

The FAQ page of the MS Gaming Commission has this to say regarding internet gambling:

Is internet gambling legal?

No. Internet gambling is illegal under state law.

Online sites may advertise they are “legal” and “licensed” forms of gaming. They may be legal or licensed where the bets are received, but it is illegal to place bets from Mississippi with these businesses.

On the other hand, there does seem to be a genuine desire in the state to legalize some forms of online gaming. There has been an initiative every year since 2012 for the state to legalize and regulate online poker. At least one state lawmaker introduced legislation in 2012, 2013 and 2014 that would have the state regulate and license online poker sites and casinos within the state. None of these measures have ever made it through the process.

State lawmakers have recently mulled over the possibility of setting up a state lottery to fund education and other public initiatives. State Representative Alyce Clarke voiced her support for a lottery in early 2014 when she said that “it doesn’t make sense for me to go across the river and take care of their children when our children need that money here in Mississippi.”

Sports Betting in Mississippi

Interestingly, sports betting was legalized in Mississippi with the help of a little legislative trickery. A fantasy sports bill passed in 2017 quietly legalized sports betting by removing restrictions from casinos offering sports betting.

Irritated that they had unwittingly signed on to legal sports betting, a faction of anti-gambling lawmakers introduced a bill to reinstate the state-level prohibition. That bill failed to gain any traction and that was the end of the resistance. However, rules and regulations had to be drafted before sports betting could commence.

Regulatory power was given to the Mississippi Gaming Commission. After the Supreme Court declared PASPA unconstitutional, the Commission got to work drafting regulations necessary to allow casinos to being accepting wagers.

The regulations were approved in June of 2018 to finally give casinos the green light to begin taking wagers. Under these regulations, sports betting may only be offered by licensed casinos that have received authorization from the Executive Director of the MS Gaming Commission.

Under the rules approved by the Commission, wagers may only be placed by customers on casino premises. The regulations do mention mobile and electronic wagering, but only for customers who are physically present at the casino. For now, online sports betting is not on the table in Mississippi.

Real world sports betting kicked off on August 1st, 2018. Beau Rivage in Biloxi and Gold Strike in Tunica accepted the state’s first legal sports wagers simultaneously at noon on August 1st. Other casinos announced they would begin taking wagers in August as well and more have joined the party since.

Fantasy Sports

Fantasy sports sites operated in Mississippi until 2016, then took a break after the Attorney General issued an opinion stating that fantasy sports meet the state’s definition of illegal gambling. The major fantasy sites left Mississippi, but were later invited back after new legislation was signed into law by governor Phil Bryant.

A Temporary Fix

In 2016, the state legislature introduced and passed SB 2541 and send it to the governor’s office. The governor signed off on the bill and invited fantasy sites back to Mississippi as of July 1st, 2016. However, SB 2541 was a temporary bill designed to expire after one year. During that time, lawmakers were asked to form a task force that will study the industry and propose regulations for a more permanent legal framework in Mississippi.

Regulations in the temporary bill include:

Anyone who hosts a real money fantasy contest for 100 or more members of the general public is considered an operator and must adhere to all regulations

The value of all prizes must be made known in advance of any fantasy contest

Winning outcomes are not based on the score, point spread or individual performance of any one athlete or one team

Prevent employees and relatives of employees from competing in real money contests anywhere

Prevent sharing of “inside information”

Offer self-exclusion programs for customers

Verify all customers are 18 or older

Disclose the number of entries a player may submit to each contest and employ measures to ensure players do not enter more than the maximum allowed number of entries

Mississippi Gets Permanent DFS Legislation

In March of 2017, Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant signed a new bill into law establishing a more permanent framework for the regulation of daily fantasy sports. House Bill 967 keeps in place all regulations found in the temporary bill (see above) and also adds several others.

New regulations adopted by HB 967 include the prohibition of third-party scripts used by players to gain an advantage in DFS contests, enforcing maximum numbers of entries players may enter into any single contest and identifying highly experienced players with symbols visible to all other players. The law defines “highly experienced players” as players who have entered more than 1,000 contests or who have won more than three individual prizes each worth $1,000 or more.

The new legislation requires operators to limit the number of entries into contests according to the following rules:

Contests open to 12 or fewer players: one entry per person

Contests open to more than 12 but fewer than 37 players: maximum of two entries per person

Contests open to more than 37 but no more than 100 players: maximum of three entries per person

Contest open to more than 100 players: Each player restricted to purchasing no more than 3% of all total entries or 150 entries (whichever number is smaller)

However, the law does allow fantasy sites to host contests with unlimited entries provided those contests have entry fees of $50 or higher and the total number of unlimited-entry-contests comprise less than 2% of all contests offered by that site.

The regulation of daily fantasy sports in Mississippi now falls under the Mississippi Gaming Commission. Licensing fees for DFS operators are set at $5,000 and licenses are good for three years. Additionally, sites are now on the hook for an 8% tax applied to net revenue earned in Mississippi.

Online Skill Games

Certain games of skill do not fall under Mississippi’s definition of “gambling” even if they include wagers between the players. One of the Game Show Network’s websites, WorldWinner.com, offers a selection of skill-only games such as Scrabble that can be played against other people for real money. These games are 100% legal under MS law.

The idea of playing games of skill for money is intriguing but there’s not a lot of interest among the general public. Some of it probably has to do with a lack of effort among the leading skill gaming sites to update their software or host anything other than low stakes games. If you’d like to try a few games for yourself, just head over to World Winner and sign up for a free account.

Poker in Mississippi

Mississippi has a healthy legal poker industry but the laws regarding games are strict. Most of the state’s casinos host a poker room and major tournament organizers such as the WSOP usually have at least one stop in Tunica. If you don’t mind getting up and driving to the nearest casino, Mississippi is a great place to be a player.

That’s where the good news ends. The bad news is Mississippi is very much against poker that doesn’t happen in a licensed casino. It is considered a crime to participate in social poker games and the state does not sanction any sort of online poker for real money.

“If any person shall encourage, promote or play at any game, play or amusement, other than a fight or fighting match between dogs, for money or other valuable thing, or shall wager or bet, promote or encourage the wagering or betting of any money or other valuable things, upon any game, play, amusement, cockfight, Indian ball play or duel, other than a fight or fighting match between dogs, or upon the result of any election, event or contingency whatever, upon conviction thereof, he shall be fined in a sum not more than Five Hundred Dollars ($ 500.00); and, unless such fine and costs be immediately paid, shall be imprisoned for any period not more than ninety (90) days.”

§ 97-33-5 of the MS code applies additional fines to those caught participating in “gambling” (which includes poker in MS). This section states that in addition to any other penalties, any person caught gambling shall be fined an amount equal to the amount of money won by the gambler.

Additional state laws make it a crime to host games of poker, to allow poker games to take place on one’s property and even impose fines on people who witness illegal poker games and fail to report them to the authorities.

Fortunately, the state does still have a glimmer of hope. In every year since 2012, state lawmakers have proposed legislation to legalize and regulate internet poker and gambling. The Mississippi Lawful Internet Gaming Act has been killed in committee four times so far (2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015) but it shows there is at least some demand for online gaming in the state.

It is difficult to predict when or if online gaming will come to Mississippi but there is clearly some interest in making it happen. Mississippi is in some ways a very gambling-friendly state and in other ways, very anti-gambling. If the state’s land-based industry ever makes a serious push for online gaming, it will only be a matter of time.

Mississippi Lottery

Mississippi was one of just six states without a lottery until the legislature approved a bill in August of 2018 to finally create a state lottery. The Senate and House approved the bill with a close vote to send it to Governor Phil Bryant for his signature.

Lawmakers have since said it could take as long as two years for the lottery to actually go live as they go about creating the Mississippi Lottery Corporation, appointing a board of directors and getting everything in place to take the first games live.

Eventually, the Mississippi Lottery is expected to create and launch its own instant scratch game cards first. Later, once Mississippi is accepted into the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL), it will be able to offer tickets to bigger games such as Powerball and Mega Millions.

Online lottery sales have not been approved by the MS lottery yet, but the legislation does not specifically outlaw them either. The only times the word “online” is used in the law that authorized the lottery is in the context of networked interstate games such as Powerball. Mississippi is a fairly conservative state when it comes to lotteries and was lucky to even get a lottery approved, so we do not have our hopes up for online ticket sales any time soon.

Revenue raised by the lottery is earmarked such that the first $80 million will be put towards roads and bridges. Any revenue in excess of $80 million will go to education.